For months these supporters ran campaigns using social networking sites, galvanised support for the BJP, urged their friends and family in India to go out and vote and countered opposition to Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister. As Mr. Modi prepares for his U.S. visit, party supporters and members of the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), U.S. chapter, are getting ready to lay out the red carpet. Mr. Modi is scheduled to visit the U.S. in September for a meeting with President Barack Obama, before proceeding to New York for the UN General Assembly meetings.
“There is a lot of excitement among the people here. We don’t have an official itinerary yet, but there are plans for a massive rally to welcome Mr. Modi,” Chandrakant Patel, president of the OFBJP’s U.S. chapter, told The Hindu . A large section of the Indian community has been rallying behind Mr. Modi, since 2005 when the U.S. made it known that it was not keen on issuing him a visa in the wake of the Godhra riots.